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The Spanish language is expressive. From adjectives that mean “beautiful” to powerful verbs that translate to entire phrases in English, Spanish is full of unique and beautiful vocabulary. Plus there are plenty of words that are just fun to say or sound beautiful when they roll off your tongue.
Learning these beautiful Spanish words alongside the basic words you already know can help elevate your communication and impress your speaking partners. Practicing beautiful words in Spanish is a fun drill for your pronunciation and a great introduction to the dynamic language that Spanish is.
Spanish words for beautiful
Did you know there is more than one Spanish word for “beautiful”? Each synonym is its own beautiful Spanish word. We know that the word “beautiful” is an adjective, which means these words have to follow certain grammar rules in Spanish for gender and number, so use the form that matches the noun it’s describing.
Bello/bella (beautiful)
Meaning: something perfect in its form, pleasing to view or listen to.
- El piso tiene una bella vista del mar. = The apartment has a beautiful view of the sea.
Bonito/bonita (pretty/cute)
Meaning: lovely, pleasant, or cute
- El paisaje es muy bonito. = The landscape is very lovely.
Guapo/guapa (good-looking/attractive)
Meaning: used for an attractive person
- ¡Qué guapa eres! = How beautiful you are!
Hermoso/hermosa (beautiful)
Meaning: beautiful, serene, pleasant, or excellent.
- El sábado será un día hermoso. = Saturday will be a beautiful day.
Lindo/linda (pretty)
Meaning: cute, sweet, excellent, lovely
- ¡Qué falda más linda! = What a pretty skirt!
Mono/mona (cute)
Meaning: a colloquial or slang way to say cute, pretty, or nice, but it could be used sarcastically. (When used as a noun, it also means “monkey.”)
- Mi amiga me dio un regalo muy mono. = My friend gave me a really cute gift.
Precioso/preciosa (beautiful)
Meaning: beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, or valuable
- Su bebé es tan precioso. = Her baby is so beautiful.
Other beautiful Spanish adjectives
Now that you know several possible Spanish words for beautiful, elevate your descriptions with these beautiful Spanish adjectives. Many English words that begin with “sp-” or “st-” will begin with an “e” in Spanish, just like the words español (Spanish) and estadounidense (United States).
| Spanish | English |
| agraciado/agraciada | charming/graceful |
| agradecido/agradecida | thankful/grateful |
| brillante | shiny/sparkling |
| caprichoso/caprichosa | whimsical |
| cautivador/cautivadora | captivating |
| dotado/dotada | gifted/talented |
| emocionante | exciting |
| esplendoroso/esplendorosa | brilliant/radiant |
| estrepitoso/estrepitosa | thunderous/resounding |
| estupendo/estupenda | stupendous |
| favorecido/favorecida | favored |
| floreciente | flourishing/blooming |
| majestuoso/majestuosa | majestic/breathtaking |
| resplandeciente | shimmering/dazzling |
| risueño/risueña | smiling/beaming/cheerful |
| sobresaliente | outstanding |
Describe colors beautifully in Spanish
Colors are adjectives, too. The ones that come from other Spanish nouns such as flowers or minerals are invariable, meaning they don’t change to match the gender of the noun. Use some of the Spanish words for colors to go beyond azul (blue), blanco (white) and rojo (red).
| Spanish | English |
| borgoña | burgundy |
| caramelo | caramel |
| celeste | sky blue |
| ciruela | plum |
| crema | cream |
| escarlata | scarlet (intense red) |
| lavanda | lavender |
| lila | lilac |
| perla | pearl |
| plata | silver |
| magenta | magenta |
| turquesa | turquoise |
| verde esmeralda | emerald green |
Beautiful Spanish verbs with broad meanings
The Spanish language is rich with efficient verbs that communicate entire English phrases in just one word. Use these beautiful Spanish verbs to explain the events of your day.
abrigar/abrigarse
Meaning: to bundle up with warmth/protect from cold
- La madre abrigó a su niña para salir a la nieve. = The mother bundled her daughter up to go out in the snow.
almorzar
Meaning: to have lunch
- Los estudiantes almuerzan en la cantina. = The students eat lunch in the cafeteria.
aprovechar
Meaning: to make the most of
- ¡Aprovecha toda la experiencia! = Make the most of the experience!
cenar
Meaning: to have/eat dinner
- ¿A qué hora vamos a cenar? = At what time are we eating dinner?
desayunar
Meaning: to have/eat breakfast
- ¿Has desayunado? = Have you eaten breakfast?
fanfarronear
Meaning: to brag/to show off/to toot your own horn
- Antes del partido, el otro equipo estaba fantarroneando. = Before the game the other team was talking trash.
estrenar
Meaning: to wear or use something for the first time/to “debut”
- Me gusta mucho el vestido. ¿Lo estrenas? = I like your dress a lot. Are you wearing it for the first time?
extrañar
Meaning: to miss someone
- Te extraño mucho. = I miss you so much.
madrugar
Meaning: to wake up early in the morning
- Me voy a dormir porque mañana tengo que madrugar. = I’m going to sleep because tomorrow I have to wake up early.
merendar
Meaning: to have an afternoon snack/to have tea (UK)
- Merendamos a las 15. = We have a light afternoon meal at 3pm.
regalar
Meaning: to give something as a gift
- Mis padres me regalaron estos palos de golf. = My parents gave me these golf clubs as a gift.
trasnochar
Meaning: to stay up all night long/go to bed very late
- Voy a echarme una siesta. He trasnochado. = I’m going to take a nap. I stayed up really late.
tutear
Meaning: to address someone as tú or informally. The opposite would be tratar de usted (to address someone using usted or formally).
- Es típico tutear a los niños pequeños. = It’s typical to address small children using tú.
More beautiful Spanish verbs to make your day
Add to your repertoire of common Spanish verbs with these beautiful Spanish words for positive and productive actions. They’ll make you feel good just saying them.
| Spanish | English |
| alentar | to cheer on/to encourage |
| aliviar | to relieve/to ease |
| arreglar | to straighten out/to repair/to resolve |
| consolarse | to seek comfort/to console |
| descansar | to rest |
| despejar | to clear up/to resolve |
| desahogarse | to vent/to let off steam |
| embellecer | to beautify/to embellish |
| enriquecer | to enrich |
| fortalecer | to strengthen/to uplift |
| mejorar | to improve |
| recuperarse | to recover |
| tranquilizar | to calm down/to quiet |
Beautiful Spanish nouns for inspiration
These Spanish nouns for beautiful ideas use the definite article el/la (the) in Spanish. It’s not common to do this in English for general concepts, but a sentence in Spanish would sound incomplete without it.
el abrazo
Meaning: hug
When you wrap someone up in your brazos (arms), it’s an abrazo (hug).
la alegría
Meaning: joy, cheerfulness
This noun also refers to a Mexican dulce (sweet) made of miel (honey) and amaranto (amaranth).
el beso
Meaning: a kiss
In many countries including Argentina and Ecuador, people greet both strangers and acquaintances with a light air kiss near the cheek. In Spain it’s los dos besos (two kisses, one on each cheek). You can end a letter to a friend with besitos (little kisses).
el cariño
Meaning: affection, care, expression of love
This word can be used as a term of endearment, such as “honey” or “darling” in English.
el descanso
Meaning: rest
When you’re cansada (tired) you might need some rest. Put the Spanish prefix des- in front of cansar (to tire or exhaust) and you get descansar (to rest).
la generosidad
Meaning: generosity
You’ll notice that many Spanish nouns end in -dad. These suffixes usually correspond to -ty in English, as in generosity, or la prosperidad (prosperity) or la honestidad (sense of honor or integrity).
la paz
Meaning: peace
The hope of many nations would be for la paz. One of Bolivia’s capitals is named La Paz, and the other is Sucre.
la sonrisa
Meaning: the smile
One might have “una sonrisa de oreja a oreja” (a smile from ear to ear) when glad to see a friend, or when having their picture taken. You can encourage a smile for the camera by saying ¡sonríe!, or in Spain “¡patata!” (potato!) also works.
| Spanish | English |
| la amabilidad | kindness |
| la amistad | friendship |
| el amor | love |
| el arte | art |
| la belleza | beauty |
| la bondad | goodness |
| la comprensión | understanding |
| la confianza | confidence |
| el encanto | charm/loveliness |
| la energía | energy |
| la esperanza | hope |
| la familia | family |
| la fe | faith |
| la fuerza | strength |
| la gracia | grace/charm |
| la inspiración | inspiration |
| la libertad | liberty/freedom |
| la maravilla | wonder |
| la música | music |
| el optimismo | optimism |
| la paciencia | patience |
| el perdón | forgiveness |
| la poesía | poetry |
| la positividad | positivity |
| la prosperidad | prosperity |
| la risa | laughter |
| la salud | health |
| la tranquilidad | tranquility |
| el valor | courage |
| la vida | life |
How to pronounce beautiful words in Spanish
Sometimes words for commonplace things sound impressive in Spanish, and you might feel a sense of accomplishment by pronouncing them well. Spanish vowels are your friend, here. All Spanish vowels are pronounced the same way every time, so there’s no need to worry about too many vowel combinations or diphthongs in these beautiful Spanish words.
| Spanish Vowel | Pronunciation |
| a | ah |
| e | ey |
| i | ee |
| o | oh |
| u | oo |
Now use Spanish pronunciation for the rest of the letters to break down long and complicated Spanish words into each syllable. Follow these rules on which syllable to stress:
- the syllable with an accent mark like á or é, as in miércoles (Wednesday) or sábado
- the second to last syllable if the word ends in a vowel, n or s, as in martes (Tuesday) or agosto (August)
- the last syllable if the word ends in a consonant other than n or s, as in abril (April)
Try pronouncing these complicated looking words. Not only are they not as difficult as you think, they might sound more beautiful and impressive in Spanish. The suffix -mente is equivalent to “-ly” in English.
| Spanish | English |
| el alrededor | the surroundings |
| la autoevaluación | the self-assessment |
| desafortunadamente | unfortunately |
| extraordinariamente | extraordinarily |
| insuficientemente | insufficiently |
| el murciélago | the bat (animal) |
| puertorriqueño/puertorriqueña | Puerto Rican |
| ronronrear | to purr |
Cool-sounding compound nouns in Spanish
Some multisyllable words in Spanish are compound nouns—they are made by combining two or more words. Learning them is like a three-for-one deal.
el atrapasueños
This craft is often sold at artisan markets. It’s called a dream catcher as it’s believed that the object will atrapar (to catch/to capture) your sueños (dreams), protecting you from pesadillas (nightmares) in your sleep.
el espantapájaros
This word means “scarecrow” and is formed from the verb espantar (to frighten/to scare) and pájaros (birds).
el girasol
A flower that can girar (to turn) toward el sol (the sun), this word means “sunflower.”
el guardaespaldas
This word combines guardar (to keep/to watch over) and espaldas (backs) to create “bodyguard.”
el paraguas
This compound noun is useful! You hold an umbrella to parar (to stop) the aguas (waters) that fall from the sky.
el rascacielos
Very tall buildings are called skyscrapers because they seem to rascar (to scratch/to scrape) the cielos (skies/heavens).
| Spanish | English |
| el cascanueces | the nutcracker |
| el hispanohablante | the Spanish speaker |
| el lavaplatos | the dishwasher |
| el limpiaparabrisas | the windshield wiper |
| el quitamanchas | the stain remover |
| el sujetapapeles | the paperclip/the clipboard |
| la telaraña | the spiderweb |
>>Say it with confidence using Rosetta Stone’s TruAccent speech recognition engine.
Enrich your vocabulary with beautiful words in Spanish
If you want to not only learn new beautiful Spanish words but also remember them with ease, let Rosetta Stone help. Our Dynamic Immersion method will put these pretty Spanish words into meaningful contexts to help your brain acquire them naturally. These and other Spanish words will roll off your tongue and help you speak Spanish with confianza (confidence).